Chewers in a detolf

Jennie F · 04-17-2017, 02:46 PM

Hi Everyone.

So by now I'm pretty sure most of you are aware I have a hamster who I lovingly refer to as "gob on legs". Her mouth is a weapon of mass destruction and I constantly have to find ways to entertain it.

She likes to chew bars, so I put up cardboard - she chewed a hole within an hour then continued to chew the bars. I put pegs up, she reduces them to dust (literally, there is photographic evidence on my other thread). At least she chews them and not the bars.

My concern is once I get the detolf for her, what will she do with her mouth? Of course, I will have hanging toys for her and chew sticks etc. Im just worried that she will get stressed out and scratch at the glass and get distressed, like Ive seen in some viedos. I dont want to put her in a bin cage or Barney as Im worried she would continue to bar chew or just plain chew a hole.

Have any of you switched chewing hamsters successfully into a detolf or similar tank? Any tips? Am I just being a paranoid overprotecting hammy parent again?

WelshHammi · 04-17-2017, 02:57 PM

Mine was an obsessive bar chewer I changed her to a zoo zone 2 she has chewed a small hole where the hay rack goes but I covered it with wooden block glued to the hole she has not even touched it! Hopefully like mine it might be a bar thing mine now has so many chews and the green pets at home trees and bridges she just chews those and I just replace when needed! I hope it works maybe it a female thing I call mine madam! Cos she always doing something she shouldn't be! But then looks so sweet and innocent afterwards!

Pebbles82 · 04-18-2017, 12:04 AM

I think she will be fine in a tank and you can give her lots of things to destroy! Cardboard boxes, wood chews, egg boxes and so on. Plus I think she sounds like she needs the extra space.

Having said that - you do know the detolf has internal bars? And some bar chewers will chew on those. So a detolf isn't always a solution for a bar chewer. I have heard of people who have put it together without the bars, but it sounds like a big task to me as it means constructing it as a tank with aquarium sealant from the separate pieces of glass.

Keen chewers can also chew at the wood (?mdf or chipboard) end panels of the detolf and some people have had to mesh them inside.

It's a tricky one as tanks are so expensive and the detolf is a good price. Looking out for a second hand 4 foot fish tank might be a good idea, on ebay or gumtree. Although in my area there never seem to be any.

Or as WelshHammi says, a large Zoozone or maxi duna multy could be an option - but if you think going bigger than her current cage might be necessary then they are only the size of the Barney base and without the house. Even so they are good and it might just be a bar thing. A four foot fish tank sounds ideal though.

Pebbles82 · 04-18-2017, 12:15 AM

Junglepets also make tanks for hamsters, that come with a fitted lid made from wood and mesh. It's a four foot tank but only about 38cm deep, although the height is good at 45cm. It costs £94.99 but they tend to charge £35 for delivery. So it's not cheap, but no lid to make. They will make them any size you want and to have it deeper (say 50cm) I reckon it would be about £125 (based on quotes they've given me before).

So not a cheap option, but cheaper than some other glass tank options and it would be a good tank.

Hamster Gerbil Mice Tank with lid and shelf and ladder - 48 x 18 tall X 15

If it was £125 plus £35 postage that would make it £160. And Zooplus are selling the 100cm Falco for £150 ish at the moment. Not as big, and it's a great cage - but the downsides are (apart from the price) it's difficult to set up safely and only has top access.

You can get a large Zoozone for about £50 although the top needs meshing. Such difficult decisions because £50 is much cheaper, but if it doesn't work out the £50 could have gone towards a tank.

Another option that would be cheaper might be to make a diy cage out of melamine, perspex and mesh. There are a number of Ikea hacks. There is one where you use two Lack tables. That would give the top, base and legs quite easily and then you fill in the side gaps with mesh or perspex.

Here's one someone on here made - it's using the 90cm Lack table which would give less floorspace than she has now. But there is also a 118cm Lack table which is also about 75cm deep and would make a nice big cage. It doesn't have to be two storey like this one - you could just use the top from one of the tables as a base and fix the other table on top of it, to have a "box" that stands on the floor (which I think might be easier).

IKEA Lack Coffee Table DIY....I'm finally finished!! :-)

LACK Coffee table White 118x78 cm - IKEA

Two of those tables would cost £52. Mesh isn't very expensive, but perspex cut to fit can be and it could end up costing £80 to £90 altogether.

Jennie F · 04-18-2017, 01:36 AM

serendipity you have definately given me food for thought and lots of good suggestions, thank you. I think I have pretty much ruled out a normal cage like a Barney or Zoozone now as I just think she would be ok for a while but be chewing bars or holes. Im looking for her forever home now. Problem is im a full time student who works part time and have no tools or DIY skills haha. I dont actually know anyone that could help me build a cage. Maybe my dad could use some tools from work, but my parents dont live locally and a built up cage wouldnt fit in my tiny car either. I'm also quite restricted on space being in a 1 bed flat. I bought a kallax unit for her current cages to go on and had to rearrange the flat to fit it in haha.

I reckon I could just about make her the lid for the detolf by myself. It would definately be the easiest option. It would fit on the kallax unit i already have. I was planning on putting a platform at each end made of those ikea wooden magazine storage things, so that will stop her getting to the ends. I could always wrap sisal string around the metal bits in the cage if she does start to go for them.

Cant believe how much it is stressing me out over a cage haha. I know she only has a limited time left in her current ones as she will need a bigger wheel within the next month or so and the 12 inch one I have wont fit in there, hence the need for an upgrade quicker. I just need to get my exams out of the way and then its go. But as well as trying to revise, Im trying to get the timings right on things so hopefully she will be in and ready to go by the end of May.

Pebbles82 · 04-18-2017, 06:14 AM

It is difficult. If she is such a chewer it could carry on in a detolf with the bars in - I'm sure she'd have the sisal off in no time. Mesh inside might protect the ends. Diy sounds too much right now

Cages without bars (ie tank styles) tend to be expensive, but something like a Zoozone 2 or Maxi Duna multy could be good. Certainly an 11" wheel fits in those, and the 12" wobust wheel just fits, but the Silent runner wouldn't fit. A 28cm Trixie would be fine though. It wouldn't fit on your unit as well as a detolf as it would be deeper than a detolf. As you already have the Kallax units it could be good to get something that would work well on top of those. A bit of overhang front and back would be ok but you might not have the room space for the overhang without it getting knocked.

I know one cage that would be good but it's over £100. The 100cm Marrakesch. It's basically the same height and size as a Zoozone 2 or Maxi Duna, but without losing space to the curved corners. It's also not as deep - 47cm externally.

If the detolf is the only thing within budget, and fits, it could be worth trying with the sisal round the bars and blocking off the end panels - but you might need to be prepared at some point to take the bars out and seal it up with aquarium sealant.

spacebyte · 04-21-2017, 02:59 PM

Luna is a huge chewer and chewed a big hole in her Alaska! She has been in the Detolf for many months now.

There's a hole in the Detolf for a lightbulb- this comes with a cap to cover it. This was an area of curiosity and chewing for her, but I put her wheel in front of it and now she can't get to it. (Her wheel is a 29cm one, and it needs to be put on the floor without substrate, but this seems to be okay at this one end of the cage. She can run freely on it, but I don't think it would be possible to fit anything even a cm bigger)

Her substrate is thick and she doesn't seem to notice the ground level bars even though she loves to dig. I did have some trouble with her climbing into her sputnik and chewing the higher internal bars and the lid of the cage- the sputnik is now on ground level, I was scared about her leaning out so far and falling.

I haven't noticed any chewing marks on the wooden ends of the cage. I make sure she has a lot of cardboard and whimzees (She doesn't seem to go for wood chews?) to keep her teeth down. I am also a full time student and I found making the lid was semi expensive. I went to my parents house while they were abroad to use their tools, my boyfriend helped with the wood cutting, but getting the wood and mesh was expensive in B&Q, and they would not cut the wood to size. If you have time to plan for this (We didn't, due to the hole in the Alaska!) shop about for that stuff, ordering online might be cheaper especially for mesh which was ridiculously pricey!

Jennie F · 04-21-2017, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spacebyte

Luna is a huge chewer and chewed a big hole in her Alaska! She has been in the Detolf for many months now.

There's a hole in the Detolf for a lightbulb- this comes with a cap to cover it. This was an area of curiosity and chewing for her, but I put her wheel in front of it and now she can't get to it. (Her wheel is a 29cm one, and it needs to be put on the floor without substrate, but this seems to be okay at this one end of the cage. She can run freely on it, but I don't think it would be possible to fit anything even a cm bigger)

Her substrate is thick and she doesn't seem to notice the ground level bars even though she loves to dig. I did have some trouble with her climbing into her sputnik and chewing the higher internal bars and the lid of the cage- the sputnik is now on ground level, I was scared about her leaning out so far and falling.

I haven't noticed any chewing marks on the wooden ends of the cage. I make sure she has a lot of cardboard and whimzees (She doesn't seem to go for wood chews?) to keep her teeth down. I am also a full time student and I found making the lid was semi expensive. I went to my parents house while they were abroad to use their tools, my boyfriend helped with the wood cutting, but getting the wood and mesh was expensive in B&Q, and they would not cut the wood to size. If you have time to plan for this (We didn't, due to the hole in the Alaska!) shop about for that stuff, ordering online might be cheaper especially for mesh which was ridiculously pricey!

Thanks for your reply. Its good to know another former chewer gets on ok in a detolf. I will start looking around for mesh next week. Hopefully I can get the detolf next week too and get measurements to go and get the wood

Jennie F · 04-21-2017, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serendipity7000

It is difficult. If she is such a chewer it could carry on in a detolf with the bars in - I'm sure she'd have the sisal off in no time. Mesh inside might protect the ends. Diy sounds too much right now

Cages without bars (ie tank styles) tend to be expensive, but something like a Zoozone 2 or Maxi Duna multy could be good. Certainly an 11" wheel fits in those, and the 12" wobust wheel just fits, but the Silent runner wouldn't fit. A 28cm Trixie would be fine though. It wouldn't fit on your unit as well as a detolf as it would be deeper than a detolf. As you already have the Kallax units it could be good to get something that would work well on top of those. A bit of overhang front and back would be ok but you might not have the room space for the overhang without it getting knocked.

I know one cage that would be good but it's over £100. The 100cm Marrakesch. It's basically the same height and size as a Zoozone 2 or Maxi Duna, but without losing space to the curved corners. It's also not as deep - 47cm externally.

If the detolf is the only thing within budget, and fits, it could be worth trying with the sisal round the bars and blocking off the end panels - but you might need to be prepared at some point to take the bars out and seal it up with aquarium sealant.

Thanks for the advice. Im going to hopefully make a start on thjngs next week and hope to have her in by the end of May

BoredHamsters · 04-27-2017, 04:41 AM

I have a detolf and I certainly had some worries about my hamsters chewing out, the hole isn't that big on mine, I think I have a different version but the holes are really small drill things that I was worried my hamster could chew out. I put the glass shelving up that came with it but the issue was it wouldn't touch the complete bottom. So I ended up moving that hamster and put my other hamster which was much calmer in it, and moving that hamster into a glass aquarium where she could do no further damage.
But now I've decided I'm going to get some plywood sheets and cut them to size and place them on each end and silicone it in.
It really depends how paranoid you get about this stuff, the only option that's completely hammy proof is getting a glass aquarium, which I understand is expensive and difficult to find.

Also I'm sorry for the late reply haha, still hope this is useful